SEC Fines Macquarie Over Underwriting Of Chinese Offering

The Securities and Exchange Commission fined Macquarie Capital, as well as a former managing director and investment banker, over faulty underwriting of a public offering by a Chinese company. The SEC action was due to Macquarie's role as lead underwriter in a 2010 secondary offering by then New York Stock Exchange-listed Puda Coal. The SEC alleges that Macquarie repeated a claim in marketing materials that Puda held a 90% stake in a Chinese coal company, despite obtaining a report from Kroll Associates showing that Puda Coal did not own any part of the coal company. Macquarie agreed to a $15 million fine, then-managing director Aaron Black agreed to a $212,711 fine and former investment banker William Fang agreed to a $35,000 fine. Black agreed to a five-year supervisory bar and Fang agreed to a five-year securities industry bar, while neither admitted nor denied the allegations. Executives at Puda Coal, which no longer is in business, had been previously charged by the SEC.